Sinn Féin MLA Philip McGuigan has said the Jim Allister’s Functioning of Government Bill is about undermining the functions of government in the north rather than improving them. 

Philip McGuigan said: 

“This Bill is not about good governance or improving the functioning of government as its title would benignly suggest. 

“Behind that innocent sounding title lies a destructive and malicious intent to undermine the functioning of government which is already extremely difficult given the challenges of a mandatory coalition. 

“This bill is about undermining the ability of this Executive and this Assembly to deliver for our people. It is about making this more difficult to the point of impossible.

“But we shouldn’t be surprised given that the author of this Bill, and most of the amendments tabled, has consistently set himself against the Peace Process and the Good Friday Agreement institutions. 

“I would genuinely welcome a situation where Mr Allister was bringing forward a bill truly motivated by improving the functioning of government here – notwithstanding the fact that it would run contrary to his approach to power-sharing thus far. 

“However, it’s clear once his motivation is to fundamentally weaken the functioning of government by undermining the important role of Ministerial Advisors. 

“Jim Allister’s Bill is a wreckers’ charter. It is an attack on our political institutions. It is about undermining power-sharing and disrupting the functioning of government.”